Staff profile: Dr Ruth Harris
Position: Reader
School: Nursing
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8266 6180
Email: ruth.harris@sgul.kingston.ac.uk
Biography
Ruth is a qualified nurse. She has a clinical background in medical nursing and care of older people and has worked as a primary nurse on a King's Fund funded Nursing Development Unit (NDU) and as the senior primary nurse / ward manager on a nursing-led intermediate care unit.
Before joining the Faculty she worked in several research posts, including research fellow/deputy director in the Nursing Research Unit, King’s College London; senior nurse for R &D in an acute NHS Trust; and lead researcher of a NHS-funded RCT of a nursing-led inpatient unit.
Ruth was awarded a PhD by King’s College London in 2003 for a thesis entitled ‘Evaluating nursing-led in-patient units through a randomised controlled trial and the aggregation of data from a programme of three studies’.
Current work includes the development and evaluation of a workload measurement tool for use in neurological rehabilitation; an exploration of the support needs of carers of people who have had a stroke; and an exploration of the impact of masters degree education in nursing. Recently completed research includes a Department of Health-funded study to examine organisational, professional and personal factors that influence perceptions of commitment and participation in the workforce for nurses working in mid-life; and a multi-method, systematic review of self-assessment of health and social care needs by older people.
Ruth is an assistant editor of the International Journal of Nursing Studies. She has reviewed research papers for Journal of Advanced Nursing; Journal of Interprofessional Care; Research Policy & Planning; and Psychosomatic Medicine. She has also reviewed grant proposals for NIHR-CCF Research for Patient Benefit Programme and NIHR-CCF Service Delivery and Organisation Programme and final project reports for Department of Health Policy Research Programme.
Ruth has been a member of London Multi-centre Research Ethics Committee since 1998.
Interests
Development and evaluation of nursing-led services within intermediate care; the impact of the nursing and multiprofessional workforce on processes of care and patient outcomes; patient assessment including self-assessment by older people; new nursing roles; care of older people; stroke care.
Publications
Article
Harris, Ruth , Bennett, Janette , Davey, Barbara and Ross, Fiona (2010) Flexible working and the contribution of nurses in mid-life to the workforce: a qualitative study.
Bennett , Janette , Davey, Barbara and Harris, Ruth (2009) Commitment expressions of nurses aged 45 and over: organisational, professional and personal factors.
Williams, Heather , Harris, Ruth and Turner-Stokes, Lynne (2009) Work sampling: a quantitative analysis of nursing activity to inform a dependency tool for use in a neuro-rehabilitation setting.
Harris, Ruth , Kelly, Daniel , Hunt, Jane A. , Plant, Hilary , Kelley, Kate , Richardson, Alison and Sitzia, John (2008) Accessing elite nurses for research: reflections on the theoretical and practical issues of telephone interviewing.
Greenwood, Nan , Mackenzie, Ann and Harris, Ruth (2008) New Deal for Carers or unfair deal: what is in it for informal carers of stroke survivors?
Williams, Heather , Harris, Ruth and Turner-Stokes, Lynne (2007) Can the Northwick Park Care Needs Assessment be used to estimate nursing staff requirements in an inpatient rehabilitation setting?
Griffiths, Peter D. , Edwards, Margaret E. , Forbes, Angus , Harris, Ruth L. and Ritchie, Gill (2007) Effectiveness of intermediate care in nursing-led in-patient units.
Harris, Ruth , Wilson-Barnett, Jenifer and Griffiths, Peter (2007) Effectiveness of nursing-led inpatient care for patients with post-acute health care needs: secondary data analysis from a programme of randomized controlled trials.
Williams, Heather , Harris, Ruth and Turner-Stokes, Lynne (2007) Northwick Park Care Needs Assessment: adaptation for inpatient neurological rehabilitation settings.
Harris, Ruth (2006) Review: hospital based case management does not reduce length of hospital stay or readmissions in adults.
Harris, Ruth , Ullman, Roz and Griffiths, Peter (2006) Self-assessment of health and social care needs by older people.
Ross, Fiona and Harris, Ruth (2005) Can interprofessional education make a difference in the care of people with chronic disease?
Harris, Ruth , Richardson, Gerry , Griffiths, Peter , Hallett, Nancy and Wilson-Barnett, Jenifer (2005) Economic evaluation of a nursing-led inpatient unit: the impact of findings on management decisions of service utility and sustainability.
Griffiths, Peter , Edwards, Margaret , Forbes, Angus and Harris, Ruth (2005) Post-acute intermediate care in nursing-led units: a systematic review of effectiveness.
Malone, Mary , Harris, Ruth , Hooker, Richard , Tucker, Tina , Tanna, Nuttan and Honnor, Sasha (2004) Health and the internet: changing boundaries in primary care.
Browne, Natasha , Harris, Ruth , Hunt, Jane , Kelly, Daniel , Kelley, Kate , Pearce, Susie , Plant, Hilary , Richardson, Alison and Sitzia, John (2002) An assessment of lead R&D nursing roles in acute trusts and an evaluation of their status within the NHS research agenda.
Wilson-Barnett, Jenifer , Davis, Therese , Griffiths, Peter , Harris, Ruth and Heard, Shelly (2001) Evaluating nurse-led inpatient units.
Harris, Ruth and Dyson, Elizabeth (2001) Recruitment of frail older people to research: lessons learnt through experience.
Griffiths, Peter , Harris, Ruth , Richardson, Gerald , Hallett, Nancy , Heard, Shelley and Wilson-Barnett, Jenifer (2001) Substitution of a nursing-led inpatient unit for acute services: randomized controlled trial of outcomes and cost of nursing-led intermediate care.
Griffiths, P , Wilson-Barnett, J , Richardson, G , Spilsbury, K , Miller, F and Harris, Ruth (2000) The effectiveness of intermediate care in a nursing-led in-patient unit.
Harris, R. , Wilson-Barnett, J. , Griffiths, P. and Evans , A. (1998) Patient assessment: validation of a nursing instrument.
Book
Harris, Ruth (2002)
Monograph
Bennett, Janette , Davey, Barbara and Harris, Ruth (2007)
Griffiths, P , Harris, Ruth and Ullman, R (2005)
Grants
- Harris R; Ross F; Cloud G et al (2008). Multiprofessional team work across stroke care pathways: outcomes and patient and carer experience. NIHR-CCR Service Delivery & Organisation 2008 -2010. £427,978
- Ross F; Harris R (2005). A study to develop a patient-centred tool for professionals to assess the quality of care in the context of an integrated care pathway for falls. Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Charity PhD Fellowship. 2005-2008. £162,000
- Griffiths P; Norman I; Nolan M; Ritchie G; Bowers H; Brearley S; Harris R (2003). User directed assessments (self-assessment) to identify health and social care needs among older people: a multi-method systematic review of literature and practice. Department of Health Service Delivery and Organisation. 2003-2005. £79,833
- Malone M; Harris R; Hooker R; Tucker T; Tanna N; Honnor S (2000). Health Information on the Internet: its effect on consultations in primary care from the health professionals’ perspective. West London Research Network. 2000 – 2003. £10,000
